G’day all! It’s Amy here checking in from Cairns (that’s pronounced “Cans”, for all those unaware) as we’re starting to wrap up our long and wonderful journey with Carpe Diem. This past week has been a whirlwind of activity. As Shelby stated in her blog, we spent the majority of the past week doing an outback tour with Wayoutback Tours. The week involved a lot of getting up early, hiking,… Read More
Whats good family and friends,
This past week or so we have been hiking along the Inka Trail. We passed through snow topped mountains, incredible waterfalls and then descented into the subtropical rainforest where we saw a coffee demonstration and saw all the flora and fauna of the region. We summited a mountain and saw Macchu Picchu face to face and tomorrow we are climbing up there to learn about… Read More
Hey there guys!
So during student directed travel we went to the Udzungwa Mountains, after our time in Mang’ula we got up at 4:20 am on the 27th, walked over to the bus station by 5:00 am and boarded our crazy train to Morogoro. We finally starting leaving around 6:30 or so and then no less than 10 minutes into our trip there was a problem. A truck somehow managed… Read More
G’day mates!
We just spent one of our final weeks down under camping in the outback and exploring Australia at its finest. Our days were spent battling flies in the hot sun and our nights were spent sleeping under the stars in the fresh outback air. We all slept in what’s called a swag: a “waterproof” sleeping bag/mattress combo; essential for every authentic outback experience. Our perpetually energetic guide, Tam,… Read More
Hello all you beautiful readers out there! Last week was yet another wonderful Carpe Diem adventure, this time we hopped into our rental van with Robbie and Katelyn at the wheel and set our sights on the Daintree Rainforest for a week full of yoga, meditation, vegetarian food and the occasional tarot card reading. A typical day at Prema Shanti looked something like this, We would wake up and go… Read More
Mambo, family and friends! This past weekend, our group said goodbye to Uganda, and flew back to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. After one night in this crazy, busy city, we got on a ferry and headed to Zanzibar!
As soon as we arrived at Stone Town, we fell in love with the island. The quaint, old-fashioned streets are filled with shops and markets, and there are no shortages of… Read More
It is hard to believe that a week from today we will all be back home.
This trip is flying by. Today we wrapped up our last day of free
travel, which started just over a week ago. Planning an entire week’s
worth of activities, transportation and accomodation for nine people
(while remaining within a budget) turned out to be a lot more
challenging than the group had anticipated. However,… Read More
To answer the question in the title, you don’t: there is nothing wrong with Maria. She is awesome as is. The Maria in question is one Maria Garcia: our tiny, feisty host during our time in Magdalena, Sonora. We rendezvoused with her and her husband Joe at a Home Depot in Tucson on Sunday where we loaded up supplies and then headed down to Mexico. We proceeded to spend several… Read More
After Amritsar we headed to Deer Park Institute in Bir where we did a Buddhist study for a week. Deer Park was once a Tibetan Buddhist monastery but eventually became too small for the amount of monks studying there. At one point the monastery reached 400 monks and it was decided that a bigger monastery had to be opened. Dzongsar monastery was later opened which is now one of the… Read More
Now we have less than 8.
We have had a lovely time here in Costa Rica. It is an incredibly beautiful country and words would only come short in describing the lush forests, vast sky, and playful ocean. It is a weird transition, though. We have gotten so used to being uncomfortable and dirty, living next to the earth, and sleeping and rising with the sun. We set the pace… Read More
Hello there and welcome to the secret life of a gap year teenager.
So after our adventures in Jaipur our friend Rishiji , led us to the beautiful city of Udaipur (which he claims is ‘the venice of india’). Our first night we explored the beautiful lakes and architecture that’s sprinkled throughout the ‘old town’ and dined like kings and queens on a rooftop overlooking tiny island hotels, singing along… Read More
Hi all! Bex here with your weekly update!
We’ve just finished up our week with the Conservation Volunteers of Australia (CVA)! For this week we split into two smaller groups and worked on separate projects in separate locations. Amy, Anya, Caitlin, Wade, Ryan, and I went with our project leader Stefan to Toowoomba, Queensland to help the conservation organization Friends of the Escarpment Parks rehabilitate Redwood Park. Redwood Park is… Read More
Hi friends and family!
This past week our group was split in half by the Conservation Volunteers Association (CVA). We both stayed at two different campsites and worked on two different projects in the Aussie Bush. My group members were Shelby, Brandon, Gracie, G, and Cheridyn. We also were so lucky to be accompanied by Chris, a CVA leader and Captain Jack Sparrow look-a-like. For our project, we worked on… Read More
Lake Bunyonyi Arrival!
Paddlin’
Warrior Grant
Da Ladiess (and G-man..)
Mouse Bird!!
SNEC!!
Mixin Mixin. Jackalope workin hard
Jasper Prancing, Kellie Slacking 😉
Hornbill at Mabira Forest Reserve
Liam at Lake Bunyonyi
The Group at the Bahaii temple in Kampala (Liv is creepin’ over katie’s shoulder)
Rhinos IN the campsite, with rafiki bush buck
… Read More
Hey ITZA friends and family! After a beautiful drive to Lanquin (which included a hilarious game of sharing embarrassing stories and the most breathtaking, glorious, bright, bold full rainbow that any of us have ever seen), we arrived safe and sound at El Retiro hostel in Lanquin, a little town right outside of Semuc Champey. We had a scrumptious buffet dinner, a delightful breakfast with dishes ranging from chocolate heaven… Read More
Before our group leaves Uganda and heads to the tropical island of Zanzibar, we have one week of free travel! This means that our group is in charge of all accommodation, transportation, and activities for the whole week! It is basically a test to see how much we have learned about international traveling and budgeting…
Since we have had a jam-packed schedule for the past few weeks, we decided to… Read More
Hello from Dar es Salaam!
We just arrived in Dar es Salaam after spending a full day in Udzungwa National Park, in the southern part of Tanzania. After a 4am wake-up Monday morning, we took a 6 hour bus ride from Njombe to Mikumi and then a very bumpy 1.5 hour ride to a campsite outside of Mang’ula, the village near the Udzungwa park headquarters. After exploring the surprisingly vibrant… Read More
